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    Calico Life Sciences

    Also known as Calico, Calico Labs

    Calico Life Sciences is an aging research company announced by Google in 2013 to understand the biology of aging and turn that knowledge into medicines.[1][2] It has a long-running AbbVie collaboration on age-related disease. In June 2026 its drug fosigotifator received FDA Breakthrough Therapy Designation for vanishing white matter disease.[3][4]

    Editor reviewedStrict sourcingUpdated Aging and longevity biologyLife sciencesHealth and medicine
    Key facts

    Overview

    Google announced Calico in September 2013. Arthur Levinson is its founder and CEO.[1] Calico now describes itself as founded by Alphabet and Levinson.[5] The company says it is working to better understand the biology of aging and to use those insights to develop medicines that help people live longer and healthier lives.[2]

    The AbbVie collaboration

    In September 2014 AbbVie and Calico announced a collaboration on aging and age-related diseases, including neurodegeneration and cancer. Each company committed an initial US$250 million, with total commitments of up to US$1.5 billion.[3] Under the terms, Calico would lead research and early development through Phase 2a over ten years, after which AbbVie would lead later development, with costs and profits shared equally. At the time Calico was led by Arthur Levinson and Hal Barron, who later became CEO of altos-labs.[6][7] The partners extended the deal in 2018 and again in July 2021. By then it had produced three clinical-stage programs in immuno-oncology and neurodegeneration and more than 20 early-stage programs.[8] In May 2026 Calico added a collaboration with Nexo to discover and develop small-molecule therapies for age-related diseases.[9]

    Pipeline

    Calico reports more than 20 early- and late-stage preclinical compounds in cancer, neurological diseases, and tissue homeostasis and repair.[10] One of its clinical programs is fosigotifator, an investigational eIF2B activator. On 23 June 2026 the FDA granted it Breakthrough Therapy Designation for vanishing white matter disease. It is being studied in a Phase 1b/2 trial.[4] Two years earlier, in June 2024, the program had been selected for the FDA’s START pilot program, which Calico announced at the time.[11] The same drug has had a setback elsewhere: in January 2025 Calico reported that fosigotifator missed the primary endpoint, a combined measure of function and survival, in its arm of the HEALEY ALS Platform Trial.[12]

    A second clinical program targets kidney disease. ABBV-CLS-628, an antibody against the enzyme PAPP-A developed with AbbVie, received FDA Fast Track designation and, in November 2025, Orphan Drug Designation for autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease. It is in a Phase 2 trial.[13] In June 2025 Calico also licensed IL-11-directed antibodies from Mabwell, including 9MW3811, then in Phase 1.[14] IL-11 is the inflammatory signal whose blockade extended median lifespan in mice by 22.5% in males and 25% in females in a 2024 study.[15]

    Research and data

    Calico says it pairs Alphabet’s computing with large sets of human genetic, clinical and lifestyle data, and feeds the results into machine learning for target discovery and molecular design.[16] One example of its population-scale work is a 2018 study with Ancestry. Using family trees covering hundreds of millions of historical people, it concluded that the true heritability of human lifespan was well below 10%. Earlier, higher estimates had been inflated because people tend to choose partners with similar lifespan-related traits.[17]

    Place in the field

    Calico illustrates how aging companies reach the clinic. Its mission is framed around aging, but its clinical programs target specific diseases.[2][4] That pattern reflects regulation: the FDA does not recognize aging as a disease and no regulatory framework exists for approving aging-targeted therapies, so they are developed through disease-specific pipelines.[18] Calico and altos-labs are privately funded efforts with large commitments, while the NIA’s interventions-testing-program is a public program.[19][3][20]

    Questions readers ask

    Who started Calico?

    Calico was announced by Google in September 2013 and is led by its founder and CEO, Art Levinson.[1]

    What is Calico's deal with AbbVie?

    Announced in 2014, it is a research collaboration on aging and age-related diseases including neurodegeneration and cancer. Each company committed US$250 million initially, with up to US$1.5 billion in total.[3]

    Does Calico have drugs in clinical trials?

    Yes. Fosigotifator, an investigational eIF2B activator, is in a Phase 1b/2 trial for vanishing white matter disease and received Breakthrough Therapy Designation in June 2026. ABBV-CLS-628 is in a Phase 2 trial for polycystic kidney disease.[4][13]

    Is Calico part of Google?

    Calico describes itself as founded by Alphabet, Google's parent company, and Arthur D. Levinson, who is its CEO.[5]

    Sources

    Each numbered claim is a statement we checked against the sources listed with it. Status shows how well established it is.

    1. [1]

      Google announced Calico in September 2013, and Arthur Levinson is its founder and CEO. confirmedas of 2026-10-10

    2. [2]

      Calico Life Sciences says it works to understand the biology of aging and turn those insights into medicines that help people live longer and healthier lives. confirmedas of 2026-10-10

    3. [3]

      In September 2014 AbbVie and Calico announced a research collaboration on aging and age-related diseases, each committing an initial US$250 million with up to US$1.5 billion in total. confirmedas of 2014-09-03

    4. [4]

      On 23 June 2026 the FDA granted Breakthrough Therapy Designation to Calico's fosigotifator, an investigational eIF2B activator, for vanishing white matter disease; it is in a Phase 1b/2 trial. confirmedas of 2026-06-23

    5. [5]

      Calico describes itself as a biotechnology organization focused on aging and age-related diseases, founded by Alphabet and Arthur D. Levinson. confirmedas of 2025-11-05

    6. [6]

      Under the 2014 AbbVie deal, Calico was to lead research and early development through Phase 2a over ten years, after which AbbVie would lead later development, with costs and profits shared equally; Calico was then led by Arthur Levinson and Hal Barron. confirmedas of 2014-09-03

    7. [7]

      Altos Labs lists Hal Barron as CEO and founder, Hans Bishop as president and founder, Rick Klausner as chief scientific advisor and founder, and Juan Carlos Izpisua Belmonte as founding scientist. confirmedas of 2026-10-10

    8. [8]

      AbbVie and Calico extended their 2014 collaboration in 2018 and again in July 2021; by then it had advanced three clinical-stage programs in immuno-oncology and neurodegeneration and had more than 20 early-stage programs. confirmedas of 2021-07-27

    9. [9]

      In May 2026 Calico entered a collaboration with Nexo to discover and develop small-molecule therapies for age-related diseases. confirmedas of 2026-05-21

    10. [10]

      Calico reports more than 20 preclinical compounds in cancer, neurological diseases, and tissue homeostasis and repair. confirmedas of 2026-10-10

    11. [11]

      In June 2024 Calico announced that fosigotifator (ABBV-CLS-7262) for vanishing white matter disease had been selected for the FDA's START pilot program. confirmedas of 2024-06-07

      • News and media · Calico Life Sciences · News item dated June 7, 2024 (retrieved 2026-10-10)
    12. [12]

      In January 2025 Calico reported that fosigotifator did not meet the primary endpoint of disease progression in its arm (Regimen F) of the HEALEY ALS Platform Trial, at either the primary or an exploratory high dose. confirmedas of 2025-01-06

    13. [13]

      In November 2025 the FDA granted Orphan Drug Designation to ABBV-CLS-628, an anti-PAPP-A antibody developed by Calico with AbbVie for autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease; it had already received Fast Track designation and was in a Phase 2 trial. confirmedas of 2025-11-05

    14. [14]

      In June 2025 Calico took an exclusive license from Mabwell to IL-11-directed therapeutics, including 9MW3811, a monoclonal antibody in Phase 1. confirmedas of 2025-06-26

    15. [15]

      In a 2024 Nature study, an anti-IL-11 antibody given to mice from 75 weeks of age until death extended median lifespan by 22.5% in males and 25% in females. confirmedas of 2024-07-17

    16. [16]

      Calico says it combines Alphabet's computing with large human genetic, phenotypic, clinical and lifestyle datasets, feeding machine learning used for target discovery and molecular design. confirmedas of 2026-06-22

    17. [17]

      A 2018 study by Calico and Ancestry researchers, using pedigree data covering hundreds of millions of historical people, concluded that the true heritability of human longevity was well below 10% and that earlier estimates were inflated by assortative mating. confirmedas of 2018-11-01

    18. [18]

      Papers published in 2025 in peer-reviewed journals state that the FDA does not recognize aging as a disease and that no regulatory framework exists for developing or approving therapies that target aging, so such therapies are developed through disease-specific pipelines. confirmedas of 2025-08-04

    19. [19]

      Altos Labs launched on 19 January 2022 with US$3 billion in committed funding, initially based in the San Francisco Bay Area, San Diego and Cambridge, UK. confirmedas of 2022-01-19

    20. [20]

      The US National Institute on Aging launched the Interventions Testing Program (ITP) in 2004 as a multi-site effort testing candidate compounds in genetically heterogeneous UM-HET3 mice. confirmedas of 2025-07-24

    21. [21]

      Altos Labs says its mission is to reverse disease, injury and disability by restoring cell health and resilience through cell rejuvenation. confirmedas of 2026-10-10

    Revision history (2)
    1. Page created.
    2. Refresh: added the 2018 and 2021 AbbVie extensions, the HEALEY ALS result, the ABBV-CLS-628 kidney program, the Mabwell IL-11 license and a research section; added verbatim excerpts to several claims.

    Created Oct 10, 2026. Last reviewed by an editor on Oct 10, 2026. Next scheduled review: Jan 10, 2027.

    Cite this page

    "Calico Life Sciences." ContentLora, updated Oct 10, 2026. https://contentlora.com/wiki/calico-life-sciences

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